Relationship Potential
by Stormfire76
Summary: Leo's done it. He's freed Calypso from her island and started to date her and everything—they've been dating for five years, actually. So why isn't he happier about it? Why doesn't their relationship last? And how the heck does Reyna fit in? Some BoO spoilers. Rated T for minor cursing. (Chapter 2 of 3)
1. Chapter 1

**So I wasn't planning on posting this until I finished TSOF and WAM because gosh dang it I feel so bad about not completing those projects yet...**

** But (okay I know I'm very inconsistent about what I ship, I can't help it) the more I've been looking at posts about Calypso and Leo, and the more I've been thinking about their relationship, the more I started to realize that they have a lot more problems than the fact that Calypso is (was?) immortal and trapped on an island—and the more I lamented the fact that Riordan could have had Leo and Reyna form a much more meaningful, much more plausible relationship if he'd chosen to go that route. ****And that got me to wondering if there was any way I could stay true to canon and still make Leyna plausible . . . and then this thing happened.**

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: There are BoO spoilers in this! Be warned! (Except pretend that Percabeth went to college in NYC, not New Rome, because I wrote parts of this before BoO came out and I'm not in the mood to change it now, sorry. [And maybe they tried college in New Rome for a year and Percy missed his city too much, especially since he'd missed out on it for so long while sleeping and experiencing amnesia and flying around Europe, and Annabeth got tired of hearing about how great Roman architecture was all the time because hey, Greek building wasn't bad either, so they transferred to NYU their sophomore year.] :))**

**Anyway, this may be stupid and pointless... but I hope you enjoy it anyway! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes of Olympus.**

* * *

><p><strong>Part One<strong>

* * *

><p>Leo was twenty-one when he first realized that this whole Calypso-was-his-girlfriend thing wasn't going to work out forever.<p>

First of all, she was still immortal. Sure, she made herself _look_ like she was aging along with him—perk of being a goddess, Leo supposed—but they both knew it was an illusion. At heart, she was still a fifteen-year-old immortal. And what about when he was sixty? Would she still be aging with him then? Would she _choose_ to look old and wrinkled? Leo doubted it. No one would choose that.

Also, they still fought—like, _all_ the time, over the _stupidest_ things. Whoever started it was usually quick to kiss and make up afterwards . . . but the fights still happened. They happened to the point that Leo was sick of it. He knew that wasn't how great relationships should work—he saw Percy and Annabeth. He saw Piper and Jason. He saw Hazel and Frank. They fought sometimes, sure—all couples did—but they spent way more time being in love than arguing. With Calypso, Leo was pretty sure it was the other way around.

Worst of all, Calypso just didn't have _any_ experience with long-lasting relationships. Of course, neither did Leo, but he didn't have _any_ relationship experience, so it was different. Calypso was so used to people leaving that she expected Leo to do the same at any moment. That wasn't entirely her fault—after all, he had _died _once, so Leo couldn't exactly blame her for shaking him awake in the middle of the night because she thought his physician's cure had somehow worn off. And it made sense that she feared for his life every time he told her that a monster had attacked him earlier that day. His previous death reminded Calypso of his mortality all the time, which only made the fact that she was still immortal that much harder to bear. That alone was understandable. Leo couldn't fault her for worrying that he could die at any time.

But the real problem was, death wasn't the only way Calypso thought Leo might leave her. She also believed he might walk out on her at any moment, no matter how many times Leo reminded her that she had been his first priority after coming back to life. It had been a mistake to tell her about all the foster homes he'd disappeared from—because now, instead of understanding that he'd rather not talk about that part of his life (like a decent girlfriend would), Calypso constantly brought up those times as evidence that he was going to run away from her someday too. It was one of the things they fought about most.

Still, Leo stuck it out—because he had moved heaven and earth to get back to her (destroyed them, actually, in Gaea's case) and because she was a _goddess, _and he figured it'd be pretty hard to top that—until the day Calypso came up to him while he was at work and said they really needed to talk. Tearfully, she told him that she just couldn't handle knowing that she would outlive him by a thousand lifetimes.

Despite all her fears about him leaving, she ended up being the one who broke it off.

* * *

><p>For a few weeks, Leo alternated between working at his mechanical engineering internship until he was the last one in the building, ignoring all other communication with the outside world, living off microwave pizzas because it took less effort than cooking, and camping out in his garage as he modified his car for the fourteenth time and made other awesomely unnecessary projects. But then one day, Nyssa called him for the fifth time in half an hour, and Leo realized that she might actually have something mildly interesting to say. Reluctantly, he picked up the phone. "Gods, Nys, what could be so important that you would—"<p>

There was a pause.

"HE DID _WHAT?!_"

* * *

><p>Leo stormed into the Big House's infirmary, bypassing the kids who were getting splints or holding ice packs to their heads and marching over to the last bed in the wing. "What the actual <em>hell<em>, Harley?!"

"Language!" Katie scolded him as she went to the back to grab some bandages from a supply cabinet. "There are _kids_ in here, Valdez!" She didn't live at camp anymore—in fact, she was going to graduate college next year—but Katie still helped out in the infirmary during the busy summers. And whenever she _was_ around, she was as protective of the youngest campers as ever.

Leo grinned at her apologetically. "Sorry, Katie. I've been spending too much time in college, I guess. It won't happen again." He waited until she walked away and then crossed his arms and hissed, "But really, kid. What the actual _hell_?"

Harley looked indignant. "First of all, I'm not a kid, Leo."

He snorted. "You're twelve, Harley. Last time I checked, that still qualifies you as a kid. Now stop avoiding the question."

Harley kept his mouth shut for about fifteen seconds and then sighed. "Remember that epic, building-sized, self-firing, collapsible crossbow that was supposed to shoot flaming bolts?"

Leo frowned. "The one that Nyssa decided was impossible and gave up on before she left camp, like, four years ago? _That_ crossbow?"

Carefully, Harley tilted his head down to look at his sheets. "Um, yeah. Well, I was looking at the blueprints she made, and I thought I might be able to get it to work if I made a couple adjustments, so I pulled it out of our Hopeless Projects storage locker and was playing around with it in Bunker Nine, and . . . well . . . it kind of exploded."

"It did _WHAT_?"

Harley winced. "Yeah . . . that's how I ended up here."

Leo stared at Harley. The kid was _covered_ with casts and bandages—freaking wrapped from his shoulders to his feet. "Gods, Harley," he said eventually. "I know you've always thought Jake was the coolest engineer ever—before you met me, of course," he added with a grin, "but that doesn't mean you have to copy _everything_ he does. You look exactly like he did the first time I met him—after Festus almost torched him to death." Leo sobered. "What were you _thinking_, Harley? You're only twelve! You shouldn't be messing around with stuff that dangerous!"

Harley glared at him. "When Percy was twelve, he killed a Minotaur with his bare hands!"

"Yeah, and he also fell off the St. Louis Arch!" Leo reminded him. "Dammit, Harley, you could have _died_!"

"No, I couldn't have!"

"Of course you could have! The thing _exploded_! You're not fireproof like I am—"

"I was _then_," Harley protested.

That pulled Leo up short. "What are you talking about?"

"I was wearing one of those fireproof suits you had Calypso make for us," Harley explained. Leo resisted cringing at the mention of his ex-girlfriend's name. "They worked perfectly—I'm not even a little burned. I broke a couple—okay, maybe more than a couple—bones because the explosion threw me against the wall, which is why I'm in here, but my skin's fine."

Now that Leo thought about it, that _would_ explain why Harley's face wasn't covered. "Oh," he said. "Well, I guess one good thing came out of that relationship, then."

"What are you talking about—?" Slowly, Harley furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait. Leo, why are you here?"

"To visit _you_, idiot," Leo snorted. "Nyssa told me you got hurt, and I drove here as fast as I could. Why else?"

Harley hesitated. "Well, I . . . I guess I kind of figured you drove up here to visit Calypso, and then found out I was in here when you arrived."

"Nah, this trip was all about you, ki—Wait. _Calypso's_ here? Calypso's _here_?"

Harley laughed, then winced and stopped abruptly. "She didn't tell you? She showed up here a couple weeks ago and has been hanging out with some campers—Hecate kids, mostly." His eyes gleamed. "Now that you know, I guess you're going to run out and find her and forget all about me, huh?"

Leo gaped at him. "I, uh . . ." He sighed and dropped into a chair next to Harley's bed. "Actually, Harley, I think I'm going to stick around here and keep you company. Calypso's not important."

Harley stared. "'_Calypso's not important_?'" he said incredulously. "Says the guy who flew to _her _after coming back to life and didn't even take a moment to flip a drachma into a rainbow to let us know he was okay first? Says the guy who wouldn't stop talking about his girlfriend for an entire _year_ after getting her here? Who are you, and what have you done with my brother?"

"Shut up, Harley," Leo mumbled. "You said you thought you could get the crossbow to work? You said it just needed a couple of adjustments? Well, where did you go wrong? Maybe we can get that thing built after all. After all, that _would_ make a freaking cool weapon." Leo mustered up a blinding grin. "Did those blueprints burn up in the explosion, or do you still have them?"

* * *

><p>Thank the gods, Harley knew a good subject change when he heard one. He didn't bring Calypso up again, and Leo managed to avoid his ex-girlfriend for seven full days. When he wasn't discussing plans and measurements with a recovering Harley, Leo was banging away in the forge or in Bunker Nine—after all the work and broken bones Harley endured to get this crossbow made, Leo figured the least he could do was build it for him. By the time Harley was released from the infirmary, a Celestial bronze, building-sized, self-firing, collapsible crossbow that shot flaming bolts was waiting for him in their cabin. Leo even remembered to stick a bright red bow on top.<p>

Harley whistled appreciatively. "And it works?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Leo laughed. "Of course it works! I tested it this morning, and it's _awesome_. Do you think Chiron will let you guys use it in Capture the Flag? Because you would _cream_ the other team."

"I hope so," Harley grinned mischievously, "but I don't know if he'll go for it, seeing as you're the one who built it and you won't be playing—"

"Oh, come on, I just followed the plans _you_ came up with!" Leo proclaimed. "This is _your_ invention, kid, and if Chiron wants to argue with that . . ." He winked. "Just play the 'oh-poor-injured-me' card, and he'll be helpless."

Harley cracked up. "True. Or, you know, you could just stick around until Friday and play Capture the Flag with us."

"That doesn't seem very fair," Leo said. "I mean, I'm one of the legendary members of the seven now, right? I freaking _died _to save everyone and then came back to life. If the other team found out I was joining in, they'd probably be too afraid to even try."

"That's kind of the point."

"Nah, Harley, this is your show now. I've got to get back to my job. My boss is already mad about giving me a whole week off. If I take any more time, the glowing recommendation she's promised me might be tarnished by a 'However, his work ethic sucks'." Leo felt kind of bad about lying to his brother—he actually had a great boss who had told him to take all the time he needed when he explained his little brother had been in an accident, especially since "you've probably put in the equivalent of ten workdays in overtime alone over the past few weeks"—but he didn't really feel like getting into details about his breakup with Calypso. And he especially didn't want to risk running into her at camp.

"Well . . . if you're sure . . ."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Leo said, forcing a grin. "Give me a call on Saturday, and you can tell me all about how great this baby performed, all right?"

"Oh, come on, Leo. You know cell phones still attract monsters."

Leo snorted. "Yeah, and I also know that Cabin Nine engineered a way around that problem a year before I ever got to camp. Nice try, kid. I'll talk to you on Saturday." He ruffled Harley's hair. "See you later, Harley Davidson." He smirked.

"You're never going to get over that, are you?" Harley complained.

"Never," Leo promised, laughing. "The fact that it's your actual name makes the pun that much more priceless. Your mom's sense of humor is golden, kid."

He didn't stop grinning until he was halfway out of camp with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder. That was when he passed by the canoe lake . . .

And saw Calypso. She looked about fifteen again, which was weird after seeing her age for the past five years, but that wasn't why he stopped smiling. And it wasn't because she saw him or anything like that. He actually stopped smiling because she _didn't_ see him—because she was too busy sitting with some guy on the dock, laughing, looking up at him adoringly, and blushing through her freckles when he leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. And then tilting his head with one gentle hand and kissing him straight-on.

Leo's hair caught on fire, but he didn't even bother putting it out.

He was back in his car in forty-five seconds flat.

* * *

><p>"How did you do it?" Leo demanded, bursting into Reyna's off-campus apartment as soon as she opened the door a crack. Reyna took a step back in confusion—she hadn't even known he was in the <em>state<em>. As far as she knew, his summer internship was in New Jersey.

"Do what?" she asked cautiously, taking her place back on the couch and picking up her textbook.

Leo didn't seem to hear her. "I mean, it was one thing when she broke up with me because she knew that—that whatever we had was impossible, but I didn't expect her to, to go back to _camp_—and I _certainly_ didn't think that when I went there to visit Harley, I'd find her falling in love with another demigod _already_." He sounded more bitter than Reyna had ever heard him. "Although I guess I shouldn't be surprised; I've heard the myths before. Calypso has always fallen in love easily—it's the _staying_ in love that's hard for her."

Reyna stared. "Calypso broke up with you?"

"Yes, gods-dammit, keep up!" Leo fumed. "I'd been ready to break up with her for _months_ because we fought all the time, and it was dumb and ridiculous and totally not worth it, but I didn't want to walk away because I knew that she'd think it proved what she'd been saying all this time, that I'd leave her too eventually, so I stuck around until she finally had the sense to end things herself, but _dammit_ that doesn't mean she can just get over me in under a month and flirt with another guy and kiss him like we never even happened. Like I didn't date her for _five freaking years._ Like I didn't _free_ her from that _STUPID_ island! Hell, she could at least have the decency to wait—I don't know, to wait longer than she did! Five freaking years, and she tosses me aside in under a month! Did she ever even love me, or did she just love that I saved her?"

At those words, Reyna saw all Leo's anger leak out of his body. He slouched and dropped onto the other end of Reyna's couch, as far away from her as possible. "_Lo siento, _Reyna," he muttered. "We barely even, like, _know_ each other. Out of everyone I could have gone to—dammit, I'm sorry I bothered you about this. It's not your problem."

He made as if to stand up and leave—and even though she had a pile of homework to catch up on before school started again, and even though her summer job had left her exhausted, Reyna found herself putting down her highlighter and asking, "Why _did_ you come to me, then?"

"I just thought . . ." Leo shook his head. "Nothing. It's stupid. That was a long time ago . . . Forget it." He got up.

Reyna rolled her eyes. "Sit down, Valdez. You're obviously a mess right now, and letting you go out on your own seems pretty irresponsible on my part. What made you come over here, of all places?"

Leo sighed. "I don't know. I guess . . . There's no chance Annabeth is going to show up while I'm here, is there?" Annabeth was Reyna's roommate. They were both organized neat freaks who went to NYU and understood if the other came home covered in golden dust or sporting a couple nasty cuts and bruises; as Annabeth put it, it was only logical that they would be roommates as underclassmen and share an apartment as juniors. And the fact that they'd become close friends after the war didn't hurt.

"No, she'll probably be out with Percy until after midnight," Reyna said. "They're getting in as much quality time as possible before classes start up and Annabeth buries herself in work again. Now what did you mean by 'how did you do it'?"

Leo shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, Reyna. I guess . . . I wanted to complain to someone, and I know Piper lives somewhere around here too, but as cool as she is, she's still got Aphrodite tendencies every once in a while. If I showed up there, she'd either be overly sympathetic or try to joke about it—and her jokes _suck_. Plus she'd try to give me terrible advice. Jason would give me even worse advice. Hazel finished her meeting in Camp Half-Blood two weeks ago—she went back to California to meet back up with Frank and resume her praetorly duties already. I wasn't about to talk to any of my siblings about this—they're about as good with organic life forms as I am, and Nyssa's probably even worse—and I can't exactly explain my godly ex to my college friends. That . . . well, as sad as this sounds, that leaves you. Besides . . . well, I saw your face when Jason showed up holding Piper's hand in New Rome six years ago. I figured that if there was anybody who could tell me what the Hades I'm supposed to do now, it's you."

Reyna couldn't help but smile wryly. "Wow, you really _are_ desperate. You realize people described me as 'the hardass praetor' when Jason and I were working together? And when Frank and I were working together too, of course. I'm not exactly known for being the most sympathetic listener, Valdez."

"Good," he said. "Then tell me how stupid I'm being. Calypso and I broke up. I was _relieved_ when we broke up. I shouldn't be upset that she's moved on. After all, I've been ready to get out of that relationship for ages, so I shouldn't be complaining. This is a _good_ thing—it means she's not interested in trying to get me back. I should be happy, right?" He shook his head and looked at her, forcing his mouth to curve upwards into a crooked grin. "I should be happy."

Reyna sighed and stuck a post-it inside her textbook before closing it and setting it aside. "Well, sure," she said. "If that was the _only_ thing bothering you, then of course you should be happy." She paused. "But I know it's not."

Leo's ears reddened. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Right," she said sarcastically. "What was it you said? Five freaking years, and she got over you in under a month, right? And what came after that? Oh yeah." She lowered her voice a little and imitated, "'Did she ever even love me, or did she just love that I saved her?'" She looked over at Leo just in time to see him freeze his crooked smile in place. "If I had to guess, Valdez, I'd say _that's_ why you're really here."

Leo shook his head forcefully. "She's just an ancient bratty goddess who's had a million men leave her over the last few millennia. Obviously she's not all that special. Why should I care what she thinks of me?"

Reyna raised her eyebrows. "Maybe because you made an oath on the Styx to come back for her, and you kept that oath, and you did impossible things in order to get her back, and now that you two aren't together anymore, you're starting to wonder if part of her just used you to get her freedom? Maybe because if doing all that wasn't enough for you to keep a girlfriend, you can't possibly imagine what could be? Maybe because if even an ancient bratty goddess who's had a million men leave her thought leaving _you_ was a good idea, you think that any girl you meet will eventually come to feel the same way?"

Leo's frozen smile slipped. "Damn, Praetor. When did you become a psychologist?"

"About two minutes ago," she said. "But I . . . I know where you're coming from. Jason and I overturned a corrupt praetorship together. We fought sea monsters and drakons and a Titan's army together. We ran a legion together. I'd known him for _years_. And then . . . well, Piper came into the picture out of nowhere, and I found out that they'd only known each other for a few months before they started dating, and it made me think. It was that simple for her to get Jason to like her? They'd gotten together that easily? Then why hadn't Jason ever shown any interest in me? Was I . . . was I just that unlikable?" She shrugged. "I thought no guy would ever want to date me. But I realized pretty soon that Jason never showed any interest in me because we just made better friends than dates. That didn't mean I would never date _anyone_." She smirked. "And then I started my freshman year at NYU, and Blake Lanchester happened."

Leo's mouth dropped open. "You have a _boyfriend_?"

She snorted. "Thanks for sounding so surprised."

He turned red. "Sorry. No, it's just that . . . I mean, we might not be close, but I _have_ held conversations with you before, and I've hung out with the rest of the seven a bunch of times, and no one ever mentioned that, not even Annabeth. I thought it would have come up in conversation—"

Reyna decided he looked flustered enough and cracked a smile. "I'm not surprised," she said. "Blake Lanchester wasn't anything worth talking about—we barely dated a month, and he avoided me after that. But he did show me that it was possible for a guy to actually like me."

"Oh." Leo got over his embarrassment quickly. "You can't compare us, then! At least _you_ dated someone who didn't owe you anything, even if it was only for a month! I was rejected a thousand times before I started dating Calypso—and I _did_ spring her from Ogygia, after all. Maybe she only started dating me out of a sense of obligation! In fact . . ." His eyes widened. "Maybe _that's_ why she kept picking fights with me all the time! She was hoping that if we argued enough, I'd stop liking her, and then she could break up with me without feeling bad!"

"My _gods_, Valdez," Reyna sighed. "_Now_ you're being ridiculous. That raft picked you up in Ogygia, didn't it? Doesn't that mean that she loved you, at least at one point?"

"Ogygia's magic was unstable by then," Leo said dismissively. "That raft was probably just luck, coincidence, or Aphrodite being a jerk. Face it, Reyna. I'm unlovable."

"Self-pity doesn't suit you, Valdez."

Leo ignored her. "Girls have been telling me how scrawny and useless I am ever since I asked Amanda Yankovski out in fifth grade," he muttered. "I thought dating Calypso proved them all wrong, but now I'd doubting even that. Obviously, I have no hope of having a lasting relationship." He looked at her with wide eyes. It would have been comical, if he didn't look so distraught. "I have no potential as a boyfriend, Reyna. I'm going to live my entire life alone."

"Leo, you and Calypso dated for _five years_. I'd sure as hell call that a lasting relationship—"

"I _told_ you, Reyna, that could have just been out of obligation!" Leo repeated. "That's not proof! One fluke-that-might-not-even-be-a-fluke isn't proof. A thousand rejections are proof."

Reyna stared at Leo Valdez, his left leg banging up and down furiously, his hands fiddling nervously in his ever-present toolbelt, his curly hair sticking out in all directions. Then she did the only thing that she thought might possibly make him feel less sorry for himself. She scooted closer to him on the couch.

Leo frowned at her. "Reyna, what are you doing—"

She grabbed onto his shirt, pulled him forward, and pressed her lips into his.

The kiss lasted approximately 2.5 seconds, and then Leo toppled backwards, almost falling off the couch. "You . . . I was . . . and then you just . . . What the Hades was _that_ all about?" His face burned bright red—which matched his smoking hair quite nicely, Reyna thought.

She smirked. "I decided to test out your boyfriend potential," she told him, "and I've confirmed that you're a decent kisser, even when you have no idea what the heck is going on. That, at least, proves that you shouldn't feel completely hopeless. Being a good kisser ups your relationship potential substantially."

He just looked at her, still smoking slightly. "Um, thanks?" he said eventually. "But a relationship is about more than just making out."

Reyna censored the first response that came to mind—_Not all people see it that way, Valdez—_and replied, "Well, then how am I supposed to help you out? What do you want me to do?"_  
><em>

"I don't know," Leo said. "You're the psychologist."

"Fair enough." She thought about it for a moment. "Well, you could—"

"If you're going to tell me to walk around Manhattan carrying a sign that says 'Would you date me?', I refuse," Leo cautioned. "Because that kind of evaluation is based solely on attractiveness . . . and I already know that I'm not going to get many positive comments in that regard."

Reyna cracked a smile. "Whatever you say, Valdez. So you're saying that you don't think relationship potential should be judged just on kissing or attractiveness. You want a well-rounded assessment. You want to know if overall, you would make a good boyfriend. Am I right?"

Slowly, Leo nodded. "Yeah, I guess. That sounds about right."

She thought about that for a moment, and then her smile widened into a grin. "Okay, then that settles it. You are going to take me on the most cliché, overdone first date _ever_, and I'm going to observe your behavior throughout the night, and at the end of it I will rate your boyfriend potential on a scale of 1 to 10. Deal?"

Leo laughed suddenly, his mouth splitting into the first genuine smile Reyna had seen from him all day. "That's the weirdest therapy idea I've ever heard of, my personal psychologist praetor."

"Well?"

He shrugged. "Oh, why the hell not?" The corner of his mouth slid upwards. "Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano," he began dramatically, "would you like to go on a date with me?"

Reyna found herself smiling. "I would love to, Leo Valdez," she replied. "As long as you're paying for dinner."

"Of course I will," he grinned. "Otherwise, your rating of my potential would probably drop, like, 500%."

"I think that's a statistical impossibility, Valdez."

"Nothing's impossible where I'm concerned," he claimed. "I already found an island that doesn't technically exist."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

And just like that, the conversation petered out. Leo glanced over at her. She eyed him back. Suddenly, she was painfully aware of the fact that the two of them didn't really know each other all that well, and they were about to spend several _hours_ together. Was it going to be this awkward the whole night?

Oh, gods, she couldn't let that happen. It would be torturous—and if she was going to slack off on her college work, she had to at least enjoy herself while she did. "So—" she began.

"You know—" Leo started at the same time.

They both stopped abruptly. Leo was the first to crack a smile. "By all means, Praetor, you can speak," he said courteously. "Don't let me interrupt you."

"I see through you," Reyna retorted. "You're just using manners to raise your boyfriend potential, and it won't work. You've got to act exactly like you always do, or what's even the point of going on this fake-date? Be as rude and annoying as usual, Valdez, and go first."

Leo snorted. "Glad to see you think so highly of me," he shot back. "Just for that, I'm going to force you to go first."

After a beat of silence, she sighed. "I was only going to say, 'So maybe we should get this fake-date started.'" She paused. "So, maybe we should get this fake-date started?"

Leo looked at her carefully for a moment, and then laughed. "Sorry, Praetor," he said. "Guess I should have gone first after all, because I was planning on saying, 'You know, if we want to make this realistic, I'm going to have to change clothes before we get started. I'm not exactly date-ready.'"

"Oh." Reyna looked him up and down and had to agree. His jeans were oil-splattered—although really, when were Leo's jeans ever _not_ oil-splattered—and he was wearing a shirt that read "The Flaming-Hot Mechanic" and (ironically) had a hole burned into one sleeve. His hair was a wild mess. Still . . . "You don't have to do that," she said, rolling her eyes. "It's not like we're _actually_ going on a date—"

"Well, of course not," he said. "But the casual observer will _think_ we are. And I don't want to make any bad impressions, especially when it comes to our waitress. Who knows? She might be cute. In which case, you can feel free to leave, and I'll pour out some sob story about how I was having such a nice dinner with my cousin and then she got annoyed by my sense of humor and stormed out, and wow, that crowd two tables over seems loud and obnoxious, are you the one who's stuck serving them, that's too bad, here, maybe you should sit down and eat some of the appetizer I ordered and I'll put on your apron and pretend I'm your assistant and I'll be taking care of them from now on. You've probably been working long enough already. I'm sure you could use a break."

Reyna shook her head. "That would be sweet," she said, "if the whole thing didn't start out with a lie about your 'cousin'."

"Oh, come on," he said. "I'd only say that because it's easier than explaining that I was on a fake date. If someone I was _actually_ dating left in the middle of dinner, I would still strike up a conversation with my waitress and let her take a break while I took care of her tables, but I would make it very clear that I was doing it out of the goodness of my heart and not because I thought she was cute."

Reyna just barely kept herself from laughing. "Of course you would," she said. "Now go and change clothes."

"Yes, ma'am." He was still chuckling when he closed the apartment door behind him.

* * *

><p>The next time Reyna opened the door for Leo Valdez, she couldn't help but stare. "You know," she said, "when you told me you were going to change clothes, I figured you were just going to grab a pair of pants that wasn't stained. Now <em>I <em>feel underdressed."

Leo pushed the sleeves of his white collared shirt up to his elbows and grinned. "The bow tie's a nice touch, don't you think?"

"Maybe," she admitted. "The suspenders are a bit much, though."

"Aw, what are you talking about?" he smirked. "Suspenders are the coolest things since magic toolbelts."

"Which, I notice, you're still wearing. It ruins the whole high-class vibe you're going for."

"Yeah, probably. But I'm not walking through monster-infested Manhattan without my bag of tricks."

"Can't say I blame you." Reyna studied his outfit again, glanced down at her jeans, and sighed. "All right, I can't have you outshining me, Valdez. Give me a minute to change again."

* * *

><p>Leo looked at her with open astonishment. "Nice dress, Praetor," he said appreciatively.<p>

"Piper's been forcing me to get some," she said with a shrug, sweeping her braid over one shoulder. "She claims I'm going to have to stop dressing so practically eventually. But don't worry, Valdez. I've still got a knife down each boot."

"Oh, yeah, now I'm _not_ worried," he said sarcastically. "Gods, Reyna. Forget your rating of my potential. I'm going to make sure I don't screw this fake date up, just so I don't end up stabbed at the end of it."

Reyna grinned. "Good. Now what are we doing first?"

* * *

><p><strong>This will be a two-shot, so keep an eye out for another chapter at some point! (Hopefully soon, although I'm not making any promises. :))<strong>

**Feedback is appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh look I'm updating in the middle of exams week when I'm supposed to be studying... But I felt the need to experience the glory of a break. Plus I figured you guys wouldn't mind a quick update. :P_  
><em>**

**And just as an FYI, this is now a three-shot. Apparently I cannot accurately guesstimate the lengths of my stories. *facepalms* But I also figured you guys wouldn't mind more Leyna, so I don't feel too bad about that. ;)**

**Oh, and also I have to say that I am _so_ excited to see that this ended up with more followers and reviewers than I expected for one chapter! I had feared that Leyna was a slowly sinking ship, so I'm glad to see you're all still interested in it! Your reviewing gave me life (and inspiration to finish this second chapter :P). Keep it up, please! I'm always happy to hear I'm doing something right. (But feel free to tell me if I'm doing something wrong, too. [As long as that "something wrong" isn't just you insulting this ship for absolutely no reason at all, of course.] ;))**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own HoO.**

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><p><strong>Part Two<strong>

* * *

><p>"A walk," she said dubiously. "In Central Park."<p>

"Well, _yeah_," Leo said with a grin. "If we were in a random small town, I'd say we should go bowling, and if it didn't have a bowling alley, I'd say we should grab a really bad movie from Redbox and sit on the couch and watch it together and make as much fun of it as possible—"

"You'd rent a movie from Redbox instead of taking me to the theater?" Reyna muttered. "Cheapskate. Your boyfriend potential's lowering in my books."

"—while feasting on the best Chinese takeout in the city," he added pointedly, "which _I _bought, and then finishing off the movie with some homemade desserts . . . that were made at home by _me_ because if I wasn't training to be a mechanical engineer, I could totally go to culinary school and become a desserts chef."

"You can bake?" Reyna said in surprise. "All right, that makes up for you being cheap."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Anyway, if we were in a random small town, I'd suggest either one of those things. But seeing as we're in freaking _Manhattan_, one of the coolest places _ever_, it seems wrong to go on a date that doesn't involve Central Park or some other form of sightseeing."

"I've been living here for over two years," Reyna reminded him. "I've seen all of the sights. I've even gone on an exclusive demigod-style tour with Annabeth, where she pointed out all the spots where different Styx went down during the Battle of Manhattan."

"Okay, maybe," Leo conceded. "But the weather's so nice today! Do you really want to spend the afternoon doing something lame inside?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think you were the type to appreciate beautiful weather," she said dubiously. "Since you seem to spend most of your life locked up in some workshop."

Leo grinned slyly. "Oh, I appreciate beautiful weather," he said. "But only when there's a beautiful girl I can share it with."

For one terrifying second, Reyna actually considered blushing. But she ended up shaking her head instead. "Nice try, Valdez. But I know you only said that so I would raise your boyfriend potential again."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Leo claimed. "I was just telling you the truth."

* * *

><p>They ended up spending almost three hours in Central Park. If she had known this would happen yesterday, Reyna would have guessed that the park would become boring after the first thirty minutes—because really, how much fun could two people have in a place full of trees? The brief awkward silence that had sprung up in her apartment would have only confirmed her suspicions. But surprisingly, the entertainment Leo provided never lulled. He kept the conversation funny and flowing long past when Reyna thought they would run out of things to talk about, and whenever he started forgetting the punchlines to jokes, Leo would run up to the nearest statue and copy its pose almost exactly. As stupid as his imitations were, Reyna kept finding herself smiling at them. She really needed to stop encouraging him.<p>

Eventually, all the statues' positions started to look the same . . . but that just meant they could start people-watching. They sat together on a bench, almost touching but not quite, pointing out the strangest people that passed by. Leo never failed to hop up and do an impression as soon as each one left—and it wasn't until he copied the movements of an overworked dog-walker that Reyna stopped laughing.

Leo saw her mood shift and frowned. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Was that imitation not realistic enough for you? It's hard to get pulled along by dogs without actually, you know, having any dogs."

"No, you were fine," she promised. "It's just . . . Gods, I miss _my_ dogs."

Understanding dawned in Leo's eyes. "Aurum and Argentum? The coolest automatons I've ever seen? They don't stay in your apartment?"

Reyna shook her head. "No. Unfortunately, the Mist worked against me for once. The landlord of my apartment saw them and thought they were _real_ dogs—and he has a no pets policy with zero exceptions."

"What?" he said indignantly. "That's stupid. What's his problem with pets?"

"Doesn't like the barking," she sighed. "Plus he thinks they'll tear up the floors—never mind that they're all carpeted—pee everywhere, and get fur over everything. Apparently he's allergic."

"Well, that's just dumb," he proclaimed. "Automatons don't pee. And they've got to be the most hypoallergenic dogs on the planet."

At that, Reyna found herself smiling again. "_I_ know that," she said. "But try explaining robot dogs to a mortal and see what their reaction is. I'll give you a hint: They won't believe you."

"That's dumb," he repeated. He was quiet for a minute. "Where are they, then? If you're not keeping them with you."

"Back in California," she huffed. "Frank and Hazel take good care of them, but . . . well, it sucks not having them nearby. When I was—" She froze. Her history with the pirates had become common knowledge a long time ago—or parts of it, anyway—and it usually just made people think she was even more badass than before. But she still didn't like to talk about it. Telling _Leo Valdez_ that she and her sister had found the dogs a few days after escaping, before they got so frustrated with each other that they split up—and that the dogs helped her remember that time, so many years ago, when her and Hylla were closest—well, that was unthinkable. "The dogs and I have been through a lot together," she finished lamely. "Two wars and four years as praetor, and a heck of a lot of other stuff besides that. I just . . . miss them."

"_Dioses mis, chica_," he said regretfully. "I wish you had told me, like, two months ago. I could have gotten Hazel to bring them when she came to visit Camp Half-Blood—and she probably could have worked some of her weird Mist magic on your landlord, too."

Reyna made a face. "Well, _lo siento_, Repair Boy," she retorted. "Excuse me if we were barely _acquaintances_ two months ago."

Leo gaped at her. "_Acquaintances_?" he said in mock pain. "That's what you call us? And here I thought this date was going so well."

Reyna snorted. "That's a bit optimistic, don't you think?" Leo opened his mouth to complain again, but she ignored him. "So what's next on the agenda, Valdez? Are we going to sit on the edge of a bridge and watch the sunset?"

"What, on a highway bridge filled with six lanes of crazy New York taxi drivers? Hell, no." Leo grinned. "My plans involve something even more exciting. Food."

* * *

><p>"Here we are, <em>mi reina<em>," Leo grinned, thrusting his arms forward and waving at the building in front of them. "Your deepest, darkest, dining fantasy."

Reyna stared at him. "This is a _McDonald's_, Valdez."

"What? No it's not—" Leo, turned, looked behind him, and flushed. "Whoops." He took three steps to the right and flailed his arms again. "_Now _welcome to your deepest, darkest, dining fantasy."

"Smooth," Reyna said dryly, not even glancing at the restaurant he was pointing out.

"Well, excuse me for pointing out the wrong place," he complained. "Your regal wonderfulness is distracting."

Reyna chose to snort rather than blush. "I already told you compliments won't raise your potential any, Valdez."

"And _I _told _you _that I'm just being honest," Leo retorted, looking at her with an intensity that Reyna was just a little too afraid to read into. "Now are you going to look at the restaurant I picked out, or am I going to have to present it magnificently _again_?"

"Pretty sure you presented it _embarrassingly_," Reyna muttered, but she turned and followed his directions—and gaped. "_Dei ex Olympi. _Is that—?"

"The new Mexican restaurant that just opened six months ago that uses green chiles on everything and also specializes in ultra-spicy foods?" Leo grinned. "It is. I figured you'd like your food as hot as your mechanics, _reina._" He winked at her.

Reyna glared. "Pickup lines lower your boyfriend potential substantially," she informed him. But she couldn't quite keep her smile off of her face.

* * *

><p>Leo insisted on holding the door as Reyna walked in, making sure to paste a ridiculous smile on as she passed him. It was easier than letting his mask slip—because Leo was almost certain he'd reveal that he couldn't look at Reyna without remembering the way it had felt to have her lips move against his, her hands gripping his shirt and keeping them pressed together. Gods, was it normal to be so attracted to someone only a month after breaking up with your girlfriend of five years? Even if you had been ready to get out of that relationship for one-fifth of those five years?<p>

"Leo? _Leo._"

"Yes, _mi reina_?" Leo smiled, forcibly suppressing a crazy daydream in which Reyna told him that she found him equally attractive for some crazy reason and decided to kiss him senseless multiple times and—

"When the heck did you make reservations for this place? I've been with you all afternoon." She frowned. "And you can stop holding the door now, you know."

"Oh. Right." He stepped forward and let the door slam shut, ignoring the quizzical glance she shot him. "I made reservations while you were putting on that _wonderful _dress, Praetor." He wiggled his eyebrows saucily.

"Shut up, Valdez," Reyna said for the thirtieth time that day . . . but was that a _blush_ he just saw creeping across her face? _Nah._ Leo shook his head. He was being ridiculous. The queen of the legion didn't _blush_.

"Never," he claimed. "Not when I could spend this entire fake date proclaiming your endless fine qualities to this whole establishment."

He tried to keep his tone light, but his voice still strained slightly as the hostess led them to a candlelit table in the corner. _Schist,_ he wasn't prepared for this part of their fake date. The part where they sat across from each other and Leo had to spend at _least_ an hour staring into those gorgeous dark eyes and engaging in conversation that retained just the right mix of serious and witty without getting too real. Because _this wasn't a real date,_ so he had to keep reminding himself that he couldn't like a girl this much when he had only recently become single and . . .

Oh, screw it.

Leo pulled one of the chairs back and flamboyantly gestured for Reyna to sit down.

"Thanks," Reyna said with considerable surprise.

"No problem, _mi reina_," he said goofily, sliding her chair in. "After all, I'm sure chivalrous acts will raise my boyfriend potential, right?"

"I . . . Right," Reyna muttered, seeming to deflate a little. But Leo was probably just imagining that—because he looked down to fiddle with the clasp of his suspenders, and by the time he glanced up at her again, Reyna was perched on her chair as regally as ever.

And _that_, Leo decided, was the real problem. It would be one thing if Reyna was only beautiful—because he'd seen plenty of beautiful girls before he'd started dating Calypso, and he'd seen plenty more afterwards, and Calypso was plenty beautiful herself, and at this point, it didn't really catch Leo's eye anymore. Sure, when he'd been a teenager, he'd fallen for every pretty girl he met. But he was old enough now to know that attractiveness didn't form the basis for a lasting relationship, and it certainly wasn't worth pining over. So Reyna's tan skin, long eyelashes, and dark hair weren't the issue.

No, her _everything _was the problem. Not only was she gorgeous, but she held herself like a queen. Scratch that; she _was _a queen. Everything, from her name to her confident leadership to her courage to her selflessness to her impressive combat skills, elevated her above all other demigods. Leo was awed by her abilities every time he glanced her way . . . but that wasn't even the worst part.

The worst part was that on top of all that impossible skill, she was also painfully human. She was both a praetor and a college student who had ached to have her dogs back. She was a giant-slayer and a bilingual girl who didn't like to talk about her past. In other words, Leo didn't just like her because she was pretty. He liked her because she was perfectly flawed and stronger than Leo could imagine, and there was nothing Leo could do about that. So instead of trying to suppress his feelings, he channeled them into crafting their best possible fake date—both because Reyna deserved it, and because Leo was reasonably certain that he'd never get a chance like this again.

Not after he'd whined to her about how unlovable he was. By now, Reyna probably agreed with him.

* * *

><p>Reyna was busy arguing with Leo about which of the restaurant's peppers would be spiciest when a tall girl with curly blonde hair walked up to their table. "Hi, I'm Alicia and I'll be your server today," she said cheerily. "How are you doing?" She directed the comment at Leo.<p>

He looked up at her and unleashed a blinding grin that shouldn't have bothered Reyna as much as it did. After all, he'd already warned her about what would happen if they had a cute waitress. "I'm fantastic," he claimed. "How are you?"

"All right," Alicia said graciously. Reyna was starting to feel like a third wheel on her own fake date. "What would you like to drink?"

"Oh, I'm open to suggestions," Leo said with a grin. Then, to Reyna's surprise, he turned to her. "What do you want, Reyna?"

_Probably just trying to be considerate to impress our waitress_, Reyna told herself. "I'll have iced tea," she said primly.

"Sweet or unsweet?" Alicia asked, just as Leo said, "What, no alcohol, _mi reina_?"

Reyna's eyebrows shot up. "It's Wednesday, Valdez."

"But it's also happy hour," he reminded her. "Are you _sure?_"

Reyna rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure, Valdez. Maybe I just like iced tea." She turned to Alicia. "Unsweetened, please."

Alicia nodded, and Leo sighed. "In that case, I guess I'd better have Coke."

"Sounds good," Alicia smiled, apparently unaffected by their mini-argument. "I'll be right back with those drinks." And she flounced off.

"You know, you didn't have to do that," Reyna told Leo as soon as Alicia was out of earshot.

Leo was staring at a spot just to the right of Reyna's ear. He jumped when she spoke to him. "Do what?"

"Not order alcohol because I didn't," she said, rolling her eyes. "I don't care if you drink or not."

Leo mustered up a smile, but it seemed weaker than usual to Reyna. "Eh, I wasn't really in the mood anyway," he claimed. "Like you said, it's Wednesday."

Reyna snorted. "You didn't seem to care about that detail before I mentioned it. And it's not like I'm going to be sticking around much longer anyways."

Leo just stared at her in confusion, and Reyna decided she'd have to spell it out for him. "Obviously, Alicia qualifies as a 'cute' waitress," she sighed. "Do you want me to storm out before or after my drink arrives?"

But Leo wasn't even paying attention. He unfolded his napkin, placed it on his lap, then picked it up and started creasing it again. "What?"

"My gods, you're even more distracted by her than I thought," she said, more annoyed than she was willing to admit. "I guess that means I should leave now then." She scooted her chair back.

"Wait, what?" Leo frowned at her mid-fold. "Where are you going?"

"My _gods_," Reyna repeated exasperatedly. "You're the one who told me to leave if our waitress was pretty, remember?"

Slowly, comprehension dawned in Leo's eyes. "I was _kidding_, Reyna!"

She raised her eyebrows, ignoring a slight _thump_ of hopefulness that banged somewhere in her chest. "That smile you shot _Alicia_ didn't seem to be kidding."

"I was just being polite!" He frowned at her again. "Gods, Reyna, you really think I'd kick you out of here before we finished arguing about spicy peppers? We can't complete a cliché fake date without a nice dinner, and all that statue impersonation in Central Park made me too tired to wait tables anyway. Besides, she's not my type. After being around Annabeth for so long, I kind of consider blondes more scary than cute."

"Really?" Judging from Piper's stories about Leo's constant rejections during their days in the Wilderness School, Reyna had kind of figured that every girl was Leo's type. "What _is_ your type, then?"

For a moment, Leo's hands froze, gripping the napkin tightly. Then they released, and he grinned forcefully. "Well, for the last several years, it's been tan immortal girls with freckles, chestnut hair, and a weird obsession with t-shirts and jeans. I guess I've lowered my standards since then, though, because now I'm also accepting girls with normal-length lifespans."

Reyna rolled her eyes. "As long as they're not blonde."

For some reason, Leo was staring at her braid. "Right. As long as they're not blonde."

* * *

><p>After that, Leo remained friendly to Alicia (but not overly so), and the dinner passed in a whirl of teasing banter and spice-tolerance contests that ended in Leo ordering an extra-large milkshake to cool down his mouth while Reyna sipped quietly at her iced tea, her eyes watering. When the dessert-drink arrived, Leo grabbed at it hastily (he was crying a little too) and said, "Could we have another straw, please?"<p>

Alicia gave him a knowing look of approval and smiled. "Of course, Leo." (They were all on a first-name basis now, after Leo found out halfway through their first appetizer that Alicia went to NYU too. She was a senior and a psychology major.)

"Another straw?" Reyna teased, grabbing an extra napkin and brushing away a stray tear. "You've got to fill your mouth that quickly?"

"Nah," Leo grinned as Alicia brought him one and then turned to the next table, where a balding man was starting to look impatient. "I just figured you might want some too."

She gaped. "You want me to _share_ with you?"

"Sure, Praetor," he laughed between sips. "That's why I ordered an extra-large." And with that, he stabbed the straw into the shake and slid it across the table to her.

She only hesitated for a split-second before spiciness overcame her surprise, and she started slurping down the wonderfully milky beverage. But the icy cold bliss only lasted a few moments before she realized Leo was silently fanning his tongue with his hand. "Still dying over there?" she said worriedly, moving her mouth away from the life-saving straw so she could form coherent words. "I can give this back—"

"No, _mi reina_," he panted, "I gave it to _you._ Don't belittle my generosity by returning it. That would make my gesture seem insincere." He mustered up a smirk between gasps of air. "Besides, you probably need it more than I do. As the winner of our contest, I can obviously tolerate this burning sensation on my tongue much better than you can."

Reyna glared at him. "Cut out the BS, Valdez. You _know_ I won."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, _reina_," he said cheekily. "After all, I _am_ the fire-immune half of this picture-perfect couple."

Reyna snorted. "Being immune to fire doesn't make you immune to ghost peppers," she informed him. "Here." She extended his straw in his direction.

"_Reina_, I already said I'm not going to take it from you—"

"We'll share." When he still looked like he would protest, Reyna sighed. "At the same time."

"I—" Leo blanched. "Wait. You mean . . ."

Reyna rolled her eyes, hoping it would distract him from the fact that she was blushing furiously. Or maybe he'd mistake the heat on her cheeks as a reaction to the peppers they'd both swallowed whole. "Yes, Valdez, we'll sip from this delicious concoction simultaneously. That's generally what sharing at the same time means." She gulped down another quick sip and dared to continue. "Besides, we're a couple for the day, aren't we?" Her eyes gleamed. "And this is what couples do."

Now Leo was flushed red too. "Right," he said weakly. "Give me the straw, Reyna." With that, he leaned over the table and started drinking. Reyna did the same.

And it was so nice to feel the spiciness recede from her mouth that she almost—_almost—_forgot that her nose was only a quarter-inch away from Leo's. Close enough for her to feel his higher-than-normal body temperature.

Reyna just hoped his hair wouldn't start smoking again. That might be hard to explain to Alicia.

* * *

><p><strong>Any thoughts?<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**So regular updates are pretty much nothing you should expect from me ever, especially now that I'm in a play that takes up 90% of my free time... Sorry about that, but there's not much I can do. The play and school take precedence over this website. Fortunately, though, (for me and for you guys) I've gotten to enjoy a few snow days this week, which means that I had time to work on this chapter.**

** Hopefully you'll enjoy it! Thanks for all the positive feedback on the last one! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own HoO.**

**(P.S. I don't know if you noticed, but I made cover art for this story! Yay! You can find a bigger version of it in my art tag on my tumblr... My url is sunshine-in-the-storm if you're interested. :))**

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><p><strong>Part Three<strong>

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><p>"You know, if I wanted to make this as cliché as possible, we would head to a county fair and I would win you a giant stuffed bear," Leo told her as they left the restaurant, the memory of spicy pepper still dancing along the edge of Reyna's tongue. She sipped on the second milkshake they'd taken to-go and tried not to think about the feeling of Leo's face so close to hers.<p>

Instead, she rolled the cool beverage around her tongue and swallowed, considering Leo's statement. "A teddy bear?" she said finally. "_Really_?"

"Not just a teddy bear—a _giant stuffed bear_," Leo corrected her. "But seeing as Manhattan's a little short on county fairs . . ." Without warning, he grabbed her hand and dragged her through a quaint-looking door. "I decided to do the next best thing." He grinned at her. "Reyna, welcome to The Great American Toy Store."

"Valdez, I'm too old to keep a giant stuffed bear in my apartment—oh, my _gods._"

The store was _gigantic. _Shelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling, neatly displaying toys and games ranging from Operation to Littlest Pet Shop to remote control cars to something called Elefun. Lego displays crowded the floors, showcasing intricate details that Reyna was sure Leo appreciated, and an intense Hot Wheels racetrack dominated one corner. Even better, however (although she'd never admit that out loud), were the lower, chest-high containers scattered all over the shop—containers crammed full of every type of stuffed animal imaginable. And to top it all off, the store smelled inexplicably of vanilla. Gods, Reyna had always thought places like this were fantasies concocted in feel-good children's books. She had no idea they actually _existed._

Leo watched her take in the store with a soft smile on his face. "Breaking through the famously-tough praetor's shell, am I?" he chuckled. "When was the last time you walked through an honest-to-gods toy store?"

Reyna figured her mouth was probably hanging open, but she couldn't help it. "I . . . never," she admitted.

"_Never_?" he gaped. "_Mi reina_, how did you spend your childhood?"

An image of her father glaring down at her, slowly deteriorating into a _mania_, flashed through Reyna's head, and she winced. "I'd, uh, rather not say."

A curse slipped through Leo's lips, and a nearby mother glared at them and steered her kids away. Leo didn't seem to notice. "Gods, I'm sorry, Reyna," he said, looking stricken. "I didn't mean—"

"Oh, don't worry about it," she hurried to reassure him. "It was a long time ago, and it's not your fault for bringing it back up. It's not like you know what happened, anyway."

The unspoken implication—_and I'm not going to tell you what happened_—stuck in the air between them, and Leo glared at the ground. "Still, I know about Styx-y childhoods," he mumbled. "That was dumb of me."

"Leo, it's _okay,_" she repeated. "Really." When he didn't acknowledge her, Reyna took his hand without thinking, hoping to get his attention.

It worked. Leo jumped and looked at her with wide eyes, and Reyna quickly let go. "Sorry."

Slowly, a grin swept across Leo's face. "Oh, don't worry about it, _mi reina_," he told her, and Reyna could almost _see _him shaking off his guilt at bringing up her past.  
>"We're on a date, aren't we? And couples on a date hold hands. It's a normal couple-y thing to do." And with that, he grabbed her hand decisively. Reyna couldn't help lacing her fingers through his—it felt too natural, as unnatural as this whole fake-date was. "Now let's go get you a giant stuffed bear."<p>

And with that, he started weaving his way to the back, taking advantage of their hand-holding to drag Reyna behind him. "Valdez, _wait_," Reyna protested. "I haven't even gotten a chance to look around yet—we're missing everything—Valdez look it's a unicorn-bear hybrid and you're missing it—Valdez—"

"Please, _reina_, we haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet," Leo said dismissively. "Anything worth our time is on the second floor."

Reyna stopped short, yanking Leo backwards until he stopped too. "There's a _second floor?_" she gasped.

He laughed, his eyes sweeping over her face with untamed glee. "He—heck yeah there's a second floor," he amended, darting a glance at a nearby toddler. "They store all the best toys there, where only the worthy customers will find them."

Reyna snorted. "Valdez—"

"The customers willing to scour the bottom of every container to find perfection in toy form."

"_Valdez_—"

"The customers who are so dedicated to the art of toy-finding that they will continue their journey up an entire flight of stairs!"

"_VALDEZ__._"

He finally stopped blathering on and looked at her. "Yeah?"

"Is the second floor as big as this one?"

He shrugged. "Not quite—but what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for by raining quality in hurricane proportions."

Reyna grinned. "Excellent. This part was a little overwhelming anyway." And before Leo could start pulling her toward the second floor again, Reyna bounded up the stairs two at a time and dragged _him _along instead.

* * *

><p>Reyna wasn't sure how long they spent on the second floor, sorting through the store's vast collection of teddy bears, before Leo laughed and called her over. "Okay, no. Forget the bear. Reyna, look at <em>this.<em>" She turned and saw him holding an adorable plush wolf. "Brings you straight back to your days at Camp Jupiter, am I right?"

"It would," she said, "if all the wolves at camp weren't a thousand times more deadly than that one."

Leo stuck his tongue out at her. "Well, The Great American Toy Store doesn't really sell ravenous, bloodthirsty wolves, Praetor. You're going to have to make do with this one. Or . . ." He paused as something caught his eyes. "Hey, maybe you'd prefer this instead." Before Reyna could blink, Leo had shoved a life-sized stuffed greyhound into her arms.

Her mouth dropped open. "Leo, I . . ."

"You said you missed Aurum and Argentum like crazy, right?" Leo reminded her. "That it killed you to have to leave them with Frank and Hazel because your landlord can't stand pets, even if they're the world's most hypoallergenic dogs?" Reyna couldn't help but smile at that. "Yeah, you know I'm right. Anyway, I figured that while you couldn't keep Aurum and Argentum in your apartment, you can at least stick it to your landlord with the best possible substitute."

Reyna stared at him. "Wow," she said slowly. "That's . . . that's actually really sweet."

To her surprise, Leo's face reddened. "Well, good," he said. "Sweet is what I'm going for, right? Sweet is what will raise my rating of potential?"

It was like Leo had thrown her straight back into reality. "Oh . . . right," she said. "Of course. Consider your rating raised. But since this isn't a real date or anything, you don't have to actually get this greyhound for me. I'm sure it's super expensive—these toy stores are always ridiculously overpriced." She deposited it reluctantly into Leo's arms. "Annabeth would probably freak out if she came home and saw it anyway."

Leo froze, looking from her, to the greyhound, and back to her. Then he grinned carefully and said, "Oh, come on. That's even _more_ reason to get it. It's always fun to see the hardened, unshakable daughter of Athena lose her cool for once."

"Leo, I—"

"Consider it an apology for bursting in on you earlier," he interrupted. "Don't worry about it, Reyna."

Then he checked the price tag. "On second thought," he muttered, "do you mind if I get you the wolf after all?"

"What?" she frowned, snatching the greyhound back. "How much does it cost . . . ?" Her voice trailed off as she found the price tag. It took her ten seconds to process the amount, and then she whistled under her breath. "Holy _Styx_. I _told_ you these toy stores are always ridiculously overpriced."

"No kidding," Leo said, laughing when she carefully returned the costly dog to its spot in the collection. Then he dangled the wolf under her nose. "So what do you say? Will you allow me to buy you something even _better _than a giant stuffed bear?"

Reyna hesitated. "This is ridiculous. You already bought me dinner—"

"Of course I bought you dinner," Leo said dismissively. "That was the only reason you agreed to go on this fake date with me in the first place. And now I'm going to buy you this stuffed wolf as a thank-you for going along with . . . with whatever this is." He dropped the toy into her arms before Reyna could protest. "And . . . and since this isn't a real date and you don't _really_ want me to give you a stuffed wolf, you can donate this to a children's hospital tomorrow, and I won't be offended. Okay?"

Reyna looked down at the wolf's glass eyes. "Okay."

* * *

><p>It wasn't until they were back on the sidewalk with the wolf safely packaged away that Reyna thought to ask Leo, "So how did you find out about this place anyway?"<p>

To her surprise, Leo froze. "I . . . uh . . ." His eyes darted from the store sign to the wolf in her hands, and he didn't finish.

Reyna started to get a bad feeling in her stomach that had nothing to do with their spicy dinner. "This is one of those topics you don't bring up on a first date, isn't it?" she guessed. "Especially not on a _fake_ first date."

He bit his lip. "I guess . . . I guess childhood is a touchy subject for both of us."

Reyna winced. "Just another side effect of being a demigod," she said, not even bothering to hide the bitterness in her voice. "We didn't get the luxury of normal childhoods."

Leo fiddled with something in his tool belt, not answering, not even meeting her eyes. They walked on in silence, the toy store bag hanging limply on Reyna's arm while she tried to decide what to say. After all the fun they'd had tonight, she refused to let them end this date with pent-up memories and half-glances. Still, she wasn't ready to air out her entire life story tonight. It was like she'd said. That kind of conversation wasn't meant for a fake first date.

Finally, she figured out what to say and whirled toward Leo, her braid and bag whipping around at the same time. "I—"

"My—"

They looked at each other, and a shaky laugh broke the silence they'd built up. "Not this again," Reyna sighed. She pressed her lips together and decided it was her job to make the peace-offering, since she was the one who had broached the subject of childhoods. "I'll go first."

To her surprise, Leo objected. "You went first last time. I'll go."

"Leo—"

"_I'll go._" He sighed. "It's not even a bad memory. Not really. My mom caught a break one time, way back when I was five. She got a chance to attend some sort of mechanical conference here in New York—I was way too young to remember any details—and she took it right away. I got to ride a plane—a _plane, _you have no idea how excited I was about that—and when she wasn't working, we saw _everything, _playing the part of money-laden tourists even though we didn't have any money."

Reyna was starting to see how the toy store fit in. "And one of those things you saw . . . ?"

"The Great American Toy Store," Leo confirmed, a tragic smile flitting across his face. "It's a stupid name, but that didn't stop me from seeing a K'Nex display in the window and dragging my mom inside. She couldn't get me out of there for hours." He laughed wryly. "Not that she tried very hard. She got permission from the manager to let us mess around with the displays, as long as we left them in better configurations that we found them in. I think I built a dinosaur family out of Legos? Or something. Point is, it was cool."

Reyna glanced behind her, even though the toy store was out of sight by now. "I guess it left quite an impression if you remembered where it was after all these years."

His smile vanished, and he shoved his hands deeper into his tool belt. "Yeah, well, that wasn't the only time I went to that store. A couple years after my mom . . . after she died, I wound up in a group home in the Bronx. It wasn't, um, a great place to be, so I took the subway and wandered around a lot. Probably shouldn't have, but I did. Wound up at that dumb store more times than I'd like to admit, wasting away as many hours as I could before I had to go back to the Bronx. And then one night . . ." He shrugged. "I just decided not to go back. It took five days for social services to find me."

Reyna stared at Leo. She was having trouble letting his story sink in. "You were alone and homeless in the shadiest part of the state? On _purpose_? Do you _know _what the crime rate is like around here?"

Leo kicked at the curb, inspecting cracks in the sidewalk like they were maps that led to buried treasure. "I knew. And it was probably stupid as Styx for me to do that. But at the time it seemed preferable to going back to a house where I heard gunshots in the neighborhood every night and some of the neighbors got a little too attached to their bottles of whiskey."

Reyna twisted the handle of the plastic bag around her wrist, wondering if there were any words strong enough to acknowledge what he'd just told her. In the end, she just offered up a secret of her own and hoped that it was enough. "I killed my father back in Puerto Rico."

That was enough to jerk Leo's hands out of his tool belt. "What—?"

"He'd deteriorated into something that was basically a deranged ghost, and I was sure he'd just killed my sister . . . but yeah. I killed what was left of my father. Stabbed him with an Imperial gold cutlass and did my best to never look back." She rubbed her forearm, where the burned record of her legion service reminded her of the secret she almost never shared. "I can't always manage that, but I try."

Reyna kept her eyes on her arm and waited for Leo to say something. When he stayed silent, she swallowed hard and said, "Well, now you know. I guess it kind of puts a damper on this fake date, but I just—"

"Hey! Hey, Reyna, it's fine." Leo tugged on Reyna's arm until she looked at him. His eyes were large and dark and serious, but he wasn't backing away. "I know what it's like to think you killed your parent, you know," he said quietly. "I'm sure someone's told you my whole workshop-fire sob story by now."

Reyna wasn't sure what he wanted her to say to that, so she just bit her lip and nodded. "So you know I spent years thinking my mom's death was my fault—but it wasn't. And your dad's death isn't your fault either. You said he was . . . a deranged ghost? From what I can tell, it kinda sounds like he was already dead before you did anything. I hope you haven't been beating yourself up over this since you left Puerto Rico." He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "You haven't, have you?"

Reyna managed a smile. "No, Valdez, you're not the first person to tell me that what I did in Puerto Rico doesn't make me a terrible person. It's been . . . thirteen years, at least? I've gotten past all that. I just figured—one sob story deserves another, right?"

Leo laughed out loud, and his eyes lightened up a little. "Yeah, something like that."

Reyna stuck out her tongue. It was a childish gesture she hadn't used since Circe's spa, but around this stupid mechanic, it felt natural. "Something like that. Now would you like to let go of my arm, _por favor_?"

"Oh! Sorry." He yanked his hand back and curled it into a fist inside his tool belt. "So, um, how about we do something lighthearted for the next part of this fake date?"

Reyna hugged herself, hating that she could still feel the touch of his fingers on her arm. "I think that sounds like a good change of pace. I've had enough seriousness to last the rest of the night."

* * *

><p>So for the rest of the night, Leo carefully circumvented anything serious. They wandered around Manhattan having all sorts of ridiculous fun, but they never brought up the subject of childhoods again. By the time the cab Leo had hailed stopped in front of her apartment complex, Reyna had almost forgotten the secrets they'd shared. <em>Almost<em>.

Leo paid the cab driver and waved him off jauntily before turning to Reyna. "So . . ."

"So," Reyna said, her heart sinking. "It looks like this fake date is over."

"Yeah," he said, scuffing his shoe on the concrete sidewalk. "In that case, I guess it's time to end this date cliché with the most cliché ending of all. But I . . ." He hesitated, then peered across at Reyna with dark eyes that matched her own. "Actually, I don't think this date is _quite_ over yet. First, I must gallantly walk you to your apartment door."

That shocked a laugh out of her. "Oh yeah?"

"Who knows what dangers could be lurking in your building?" he answered, brandishing a hammer with mock paranoia. "It would be irresponsible to let you traverse the halls on your own!" He shoved the hammer back inside his tool belt and grinned sideways. "Not that anyone could survive a fight with you, Praetor."

"Glad to see we understand each other, Valdez."

His grin widened, and he chattered excitedly about everything and nothing as they walked inside. "At least I'll be able to take off my shoes when I get in my apartment," Reyna sighed, wiggling her toes inside her boots. "These barely have any heel, and they're _already_ killing me. I don't know how people survive in those six-inch disasters—are you _kidding _me?"

"What?"

Reyna gestured at the white sign on the elevator door. "Out of order? I can't believe this. We've already walked halfway around Manhattan tonight, and now we have to deal with _stairs_?"

Leo laughed. "I thought Rome's illustrious former praetor worked hard to stay in peak physical condition."

"Peak physical condition doesn't account for Styx-y shoes, Valdez," Reyna growled. "Don't make me take out my daggers."

He threw up his hands, and Reyna swore she saw fear cross his face for an instant. But his expression quickly settled into amusement. "But if you killed me with your pointy Imperial gold weapons, who would fix the elevator for you?"

Her eyebrows shot up before she could stop them. "You could do that?"

"Well, sure. I'm not a mechanic for nothing," Leo bragged. "I'd have to do some Hephaestus-style inspecting to be sure, but I'd bet they're using a mechanical relay system that should have been updated to one with a microprocessor _ages _ago. Or maybe the door operators have worn down and need to be replaced." He patted the elevator doors gently. "Has the building owner been neglecting your maintenance, buddy? I bet you haven't been serviced in months. Don't worry. I'll get you up to date until you're functioning better than the freaky mythological elevator in the Empire State Building—"

"Um, Valdez?"

He whipped around, leaving his palm pressed against the elevator. "Yeah?"

"How long do you think this elevator repair will take?"

He shrugged. "Depends on a lot of things, I guess. How long it takes us to find the building owner and convince him to let me take a lot at the elevator control system, the severity of the problem, whether I have the right components to make the repair . . ."

"Leo! Ballpark!"

"Oh. Right. Couple hours, maybe?"

Reyna gaped at him. "This is ridiculous. We should just take the stairs."

He frowned. "But I thought your feet hurt."

"They'd hurt more if we had to search the whole building for the owner and then travel to a hardware store to get equipment to fix this dumb elevator!" Reyna sputtered. "It'll take us like five minutes to walk up to the third floor. At _most._"

Leo pouted. "I know. That's why I wanted to fix the elevator instead."

"What?"

"Oh come on, _mi reina_, isn't it obvious? I wanted to spend a little more time in the sunshine of your company."

Reyna's mouth opened and closed, trying to find a good way to answer. But in the end, all she managed was, "Sunshine? _Me_? I thought you called Calypso that."

Leo's cheeky smile slid off his face. "I haven't called her that in over a year, Reyna, and with good reason. Trust me, your company is _much_ sunnier than hers." Before Reyna could puzzle out a response to _that_, Leo was slipping past her and opening the door to the stairwell. "So anyway, are we taking these stairs or what? I thought your feet hurt. Why are you still standing around?"

At that, Reyna rolled her shoulders, physically shaking off her surprise. "Coming, _idiota. _Although I must say it's not very gallant of you to walk ahead of the girl you're escorting. Who knows what dangers may be lurking in my building?"

Leo was already halfway up the first flight, but he turned around and bounded back down towards her, his laughter rocketing around the tight stairwell. "_Lo siento, mi reina._ But I thought we'd already established that you could dismember anything that tried to attack you. Even in those horrendously uncomfortable shoes."

Reyna stalked past him, flipping her braid over her shoulder. "Still, it's very rude of you to leave me behind. What if I twisted my ankle in these horrendously uncomfortable shoes and required an ambulance?"

Leo followed her, still laughing. "Don't be silly, Reyna. You probably have some ambrosia stuffed down those boots." He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Still, I must once again offer my sincerest apologies for deserting you, fair queen. I ought not to shirk in my knightly duties again."

"No, you ought not," Reyna said, tilting her chin up. "Or the fair queen will have to pull out her fair daggers."

"Oh, come on, not this again!"

Reyna's lips twitched, but she managed to hide her smile. "Yes, this again," she said. "Anyway, we're here."

"What, we reached the third floor _already_?"

"Yup."

"Gods. Well, in that case . . ." Leo leaped ahead of her and pushed the door to her floor open, holding it aside for her. "It appears that the gallant knight has safely delivered the fair lady to her grand castle!"

"Yes, he has," she replied, stepping past him. "And since her apartment is right"—she took a few steps forward—"here, I guess his great journey has officially come to an end."

Leo let the stairway door swing shut with a _thunk_. "You're right," he said. "And that means it's time to fulfill the final date cliché." He squeezed both eyes shut, took a deep breath, and then opened one to peek at her. "That's, um, the goodnight kiss. So, um, I . . ." He hooked both thumbs into the straps of his suspenders and rocked back on his heels. "Can I maybe kiss you now? You know, for dating-potential-rating purposes?"

Reyna's lips parted. "Oh," she said softly. "Um, sure."

He gulped. "Okay, then." And with that, he leaned forward and nudged Reyna's lips with his, wrapping one hand around the small of her back to bring her closer.

It wasn't much of a kiss, really. Reyna had already locked lips with Leo on the couch that afternoon, and that moment had lasted much longer and felt much steamier. And yet somehow, this kiss felt more like . . . like it meant something?

Before Reyna could really process what was going on, though, it was over. Leo took a quick step back and fiddled with a flap on his tool belt. "Well, that was the goodnight kiss, Reyna," he said, talking too fast and loud for eleven o'clock on a Wednesday night. "Date's officially finished. Wanna rate my boyfriend potential now?"

She was silent.

"Remember?" he said, looking at her anxiously. "Scale of one to ten? Tell me how bad my chances are?"

Reyna swallowed. "Sure, I'll rate your boyfriend potential, Valdez," she said. "You're right. It's one ten."

Leo frowned. "That's not a rating. You just repeated what the scale was."

"No, I didn't. One. Ten. A hundred and ten. That's your rating." And then she turned around, fumbled her key into the lock, and stepped inside before she could see the look on Leo's face.

By the time she mustered up the courage to look through the peephole, he was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>Will there be another chapter? Is this the end of this story? The world may never know.<strong>

**(That's a lie. There's totally going to be another chapter. I'm not _that _cruel. Once again, I have inaccurately guesstimated the length of my stories. I promise this is it, though. Four parts are all you're getting.)**


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